Game apparatus with mechanical projectile propelling means



FISCHER GAME APPARATUS WITH MECHANICAL Sept. 27, 1955 W. H.

PROJECTILE PROPELLING MEANS 2 Sheets-Sham l 'Filed June 8, 1953 m -AN a a mJm..

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INVENTOR v Hf-'Lcher 'yf [TR umm' Sept. 27, 1955 w. H. FISCHER 2,719,040

GAME APPARATUS WITH MECHANICAL PROJECTILE PROPELLING MEANS Filed June 8, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 R E m z W l. @f Mh m 41 M J cv y 4 ,z Y z f/M z Z 5 .fj l/w.. \-J W .ym/,9 H/ @f6 3 E J 3 Z 5 4 a z z 3 9 A 7 A ff/y z z 0 7 a Z /Mnm \\Z M l AV l .3 z 6 L m nited States atent CD GAMEAP-PARATUS WITH MECHANICAL PROJ ECTILE PROPELEING -MEANS WilliamHl Fischer, Paramus, N. J.

Applictojlt'luues, 19153; 'Seal "N 0. 360,257

8 Claims. `(Cl,.. 2'la'-126) This inyentiorr4 relates' to a novel mechanical game apparatus-constituting .fa miniature .form of an outdoor game and=havingnove1 mechanical featuresfenabling a very accurate play ofwthe game thereby makingthe use off-tho; game apparatus-l extremely interesting to both adults tand children.-

More-.particularl it is anaim of the present invention toprovideta game apparatus-.which closely-simulates the game-of'shufefboard 'andfincluding novel disk impelling mea-ns wherebythe disks: are engaged Vand retracted with the impellingtunitiand'thereafter projected and released therefromjto -slide with a maximumtofaccuracy over a playing surface toward a scoring area of the surface.

A further', objectfofftherinvention.is `to `provide a pro-. jeetilepropelling unit/constituting-apart of the gamerap paratusf and supported -by the `game board and which may bewadjusted laterally-andangularly relativelytto the game boardl and -an-. elongated playing surface thereof .for ac-V curatelyipropellingthe playing" disks-'vor pieces lalong the playing surfacef from the propelling raunit.

Another: objectfof the invention-is to provide 4a kpro-v pelling unit which is so constructedthat it will beaccuratelymetainedinany adjusted position whilethedisk or playing- ;piece.is propelled therefrom.

Stillya further object-#of theinvention is to vprovide a propelling unitwhereintthe force providing means for the unit-may `be vreadily f adjusted Aand Vwherein the force providing'fmeans yadditionally functionssas `a shock absorbin g oncushioning. meanst-f. y

Another objectpftheinvention is toprovide a game apparatusincluding ya `disk propellingunit having .a novelstructure.forngrippingand releasingnthe disk and accomplishing the propulsion `thereof-over theplaying surface.

Various other-objects and advantageso the invention willthereinafter.` become more fully apparent from the following.r.description of. the: drawings. illustrating 4a presently preferred'embodiment thereof,. and wherein:

Fig/irreal is a fragmentary top-p1anview of the `game HERE-farmi; j

Figure 2 is .an enlarged 4 fragmentary longitudinal sectionalitviewthereofy taken `substantially along a plane as indicated by the line. .2-.-2nofvFigure* 1;

Figure 3.is 'a fragmentary bottom. plannviewfonf an enlaigedtscale'ofLtherrighthandend of the game apparatusy as illustrated in Figure i 1;

Figure `4 -isfa=tcrossfsectional view of thei gamefapparatus Figure 5 i's'an'lenlarged fragmentary cross 'sectional iview taken substantially along a plane as indicated by -th'e line SLS-of' Figure v2, and

Figure is a fragmentary'top 'plan view, partlyinhorizontal section, of a portionofthe right-handendvof the apparatus `and showing one of the disks engaged by the propellingunit. l

TheV game apparatus, designatedMg-Qnerally ,8, includes' a game board, designated generally`9'fa mechanical disk 2,719,040 Pftented Sept. 27, 1955 ICC 2 propelling unit, 'designated` generally 10, and a plurality of disks or playingpieces A11."

The game board structure-9 includes correspondingside.

walls 12, an end wallv 13 which. extends.betweenfandfis suitably secured to correspondingiendsof the sidev wallsv 12 and an end wall .14 which/extends.betweenand is suitably secured to theopposite ends of,4 the sidewalls 12. The side walls 12 and endwalls 13 andi14 arepro-` vided .with communicatinggroovesl adjacent upper edgesthereof in which the side-edges andends of .a platfk form member 16 are disposed. formounting the platform member in the side wallsV and end walls@ It willbe readily understood that the Vside walls and'endwalls are assembled around the platform member 16. A VrelativelyV thin strip of material 17 is suitably'secured to the'upper .surface of the platform 16 and is provided with va smooth preferably highly polished top surface forming a playing surface. Said playing' surfaceor strip 17 is 'spaced-from the side walls 12 and the end wall 13, but extends to the end wall 14, and combines with the side walls v12 and end;

wall 13 to form alleys 18,the surfaces-.of which are. formed by portions ofthe platform .16; Saidjalleys 1` are located between the playing surface 17 and the walls.

outwardly of the bottom edge of .said'wall-and extends-to adjacent the side walls '12.as best illustratedin Figures' 2, 3 and 4. Cushioning strips or pa'ds 21 are suitably secured to the bottom edges of the side walls 12 and end" walls 13 and14 at the corners of the'garne board structure 9 and are adapted to rest on any suitable supporting surface such. asa table to maintain the remainder of' the' game board structure 9 out'of engagement" therewith, to'

prevent slippage of the'4 game board structure or marring of the table or other surface on which' said structureis supported.

The disk or playing .piece propelling unit 10 includes'a pair of strips 22 and. 23 which are secured to the unden side of the platform 16 adjac'entthe ends thereof by suitable fastenings 24 which are'anchored in the alley por,- tions 18 of the platform16. The strips 22"and ,23"are' longitudinally spaced relatively to one another 'and extend transversely ofthe game board 9,"the strip 22' being located adjacent to but spaced slightly fromv the endwall 14 and the strip 23 being spaced av somewhatgreaterdistance from said end wall 14;` The portions of the`strips' 22 and 23 between the fastenings24 aredownwardly offset relatively to the end portions of' the'strips so as tobe spaced from the undersideof the..platform 16', asbest illustratedin Figures 2, 4 and 5.VV The propelling unit' 10" also includes a relatively thin bar 25 having. an end por tion 26 vwhich is supported by and slidably engages on the upper side of the. downwardly oisetlportion yof ltheL strip 22 and an opposite end portion 27 which is supported by and slidably engages 'on the upperside of' the'down`` wardly offset portion ofthe strip $23; Tle'lend portion 27 vis of a length substantially greater than the"widtli`of` the strip 23 and has ya downwardly curved terminal'por: tion 28. The bar 25 .also includes "a downwardly jeff; set `intermediate portion 29 which' is provided with ia longitudinally extendingV slot 30, and'V upright portions 31 and 32 connectingV the ends of the'intermediate portion 2910 the inner ends o f theend portions26za'nd27;respec tively. The uprightba'r portions31and' 3T are spaced apart a distance less than the spacing between the strips 22 and 23, so that the bar 25 may not only be slid on the strips 22 and 23 laterally of the board structure 9 but so that said bar 25 may also be swung on said strips to different angles relatively to the longitudinal axis of the game board 9. However, the upright bar portions 31 and 32 are disposed sufficiently close to the supporting strips 22 and 23 to prevent the end portion 26 from being disengaged from the strip 22 by a swinging movement of the bar 25, the end portion 27 being additionally prevented from being disengaged from the supporting strip 23 by its downturned terminal 28. The bar portions 31 and 32 are provided with aligned openings 33 to slidably receive a guide rod 34 which extends therethrough and which is slidably supported therein.

An expansion coil spring 35 is coiled around a portion of the guide rod 34 and is disposed between and has its ends bearing against the bar portions 31 and 32. A stop pin 36 extends transversely through a portion of the rod 34 and is anchored therein. The stop pin 36 extends through a convolution of the spring 35 and has one end slidably engaging in the slot 30. The pin 36 is normally disposed nearer the bar portion 32 than the bar portion 31 and a greater number of the convolutions of the spring 35 are disposed between the bar portion 31 and pin 36 than between said pin and the bar portion 32, as clearly illustrated in Figure 2. As seen in Figure 2, a straight end of the guide rod 34 extends forwardly or outwardly from the bar portion 32 a distance at least equal to the length of the slot 30, which limits the length of sliding movement of said guide rod. The other end portion of the guide rod 34 extends outwardly or rearwardly from the bar portion 31 through the notch 20 and has an upwardly offset terminal portion 37 which is disposed above the level of the playing surface 17. Said rod portion 37 is secured in a knob or handle 38, as best illustrated in Figure 6. An upright portion 39 of the guide rod 34, of which the portion 37 forms a continuation, is normally spaced outwardly a substantial distance from the end wall 14.

The propelling unit 10 includes a disk engaging fork 40 comprising two elongated resilient fork shanks 4l having corresponding ends which are suitably secured in a recess 42 of the rod portion 37, and having opposite free ends 43 which are outwardly bowed relatively to one another to provide fork tines which are curved to engage more than halfway around any one of the disks 11. The terminal or distal ends of the fork tines 43 defining the open mouth of the fork are spaced a distance apart less than the spacing of other portions of said tines 43 which f are spaced from said distal ends, when the shank portions 41 are disposed in abutting engagement, as illustrated in full lines in Figure 6, so that the fork tines 43 will resiliently and frictionally engage a disk 11 which is disposed therebetween, as illustrated in Figure 6.

In using the game apparatus 8 for the play of a game similar to the game of shufe board, each of two players ordinarily uses three of the disks 11, six of said disks normally being provided, three of which have a top surface of one color and the other three of which have a top surface of another color to distinguish the playing disks of one player from those of another. However, other means may be provided for distinguishing the two sets of playing disks 11 which otherwise are identical and which are preferably relatively thick as illustrated and formed of a relatively heavy material such as steel. As it will be readily apparent the idea of each player is to propel his disk along the playing surface 17 by means of the propelling unit 10 toward the scoring area 19 and so that the disk will stop on one of the nine numbered squares or the end space bearing the legend 10. A player whose disks stop on these spaces and are not subsequently driven therefrom makes a score for each disk corresponding to the score of the space on which the disk remains at rest. Disks which do not reach the scoring area 19 or slide from the playing surface 17 into one of the alleys 18 do not make a score while any disk remaining at rest on the space marked 10 off counts a minus l0 for the player using said disk.

Each player in using the game apparatus 8 first slips one of his disks 11 into position between the fork tines 43, as illustrated in Figure 6, said fork tines and the shanks 41 springing apart as illustrated in dotted lines to receive the disk and thereafter springing together so that the disk is gripped by the tines 43. The player can then slide or swing the bar 25 and guide rod 34 relatively to the strips 22 and 23 to angularly and laterally adjust the longitudinal axis of the fork 40 relatively to the longitudinal axis of the playing surface 17 When this adjustment has been accomplished to the satisfaction of the player, the knob 38 is gripped between the thumb and index finger,` or otherwise as desired, for retracting the guide rod 34 and fork 40 from left to right of Figures 1 to 3 and 6 for compressing the portion of the spring 35 located between the bar portion 31 and pin 36 to the extent desired. The knob 3S is then released allowing said spring portion to forcibly propel the guide rod 34 and fork 40 in the opposite direction or from right to left. The spring portion located between the pin 36 and bar portion 32 is released from tension by the previous retraction of the guide rod and fork and as said parts are propelled from right to left by the first mentioned longer portion of the spring, the last mentioned shorter portion, moving with the rod 34, will strike the bar portion 32 and not only cushion the sudden stopping motion of the fork and guide rod but will cause said parts to spring backward or from left to right slightly. The inertia of the movement of the disk from right to left with the fork 40 will cause said disk to spread the fork tines 43 and the Shanks 41 when the right to left movement of the fork is suddenly stopped as previously described and the disk 11 will continue to slide along the surface 17 toward the scoring area 19 and if accurately propelled by the player will come to rest on one of the favorable scoring spaces, as previously described.

The sliding and pivotal mounting of the bar 25 on the two supporting strips 22 and 23 provides a two point pivot and sliding support which will effectively retain the guide rod 34 and fork 40 in proper position of alignment relatively to the playing surface 17 to which said parts have been previously set by the player, and the setting thereof will not be changed should the release of the knob 38 not be smoothly accomplished, as would readily occur if the bar 25 were pivoted relatively to the game board structure 9 at only one point. The pin 36 will also effectively prevent any turning of the guide rod 34 relatively to the bar 2S so as to maintain the fork 40 above and spaced from the playing surface 17. The spring 3S may be turned relatively to the rod 34 to vary the tension on the longer and shorter end portion thereof disposed on opposite sides of the pin 36 to obtain the most satisfactory result. Such turning of the spring will obviously be relatively to the pin 36 and will vary the number of convoluiions of the spring located on each side of the pin 36. As the slot 30 is directly in line with the guide rod 34 and fork 4t), the fork is caused to accurately move in alignment with the slot 30 to insure accuracy in projecting the disk 11. As the disks 1l. are held in the fork tines 43 while the propelling unit 10 is retracted from left to right, each disk moves with the unit 10 until the instant of its release therefrom so that there is no striking of the disk by the impeller which would tend to cause an inaccurate projection.

Obviously, the rules for playing the game may vary but preferably conform to the rules of play for the conventional game of shuffle board.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A game apparatus comprising an elongated game board structure including a iirst end and a second end and provided with an elongated upwardly facing playing surface having a scoring area at one end thereof and adjacent the rst end of the game board structure, said game board structure including a chamber disposed beneath the playing surface, and a disk projecting unit mounted on the game board structure adjacent the second end thereof, said projecting unit including supporting means mounted in said chamber beneath the playing surface and laterally and angularly adjustable relatively to the game board structure, a guide rod slidably mounted in said supporting means and movable relatively thereto generally in directions longitudinally of the game board structure and movable therewith laterally and angularly of the game board structure, spring means urging the guide rod toward said irst end of the game board structure, a disk supported on the playing surface, and a resilient disk engaging fork supported by the guide rod above the playing surface and releasably engaging the disk While the projecting unit is manually retracted away from the iirst end of the game board structure to load the spring means and for releasing and spring projecting the disk slidably along the playing surface toward the scoring area when the projecting unit is manually released, said supporting means being slidably and turnably supported at two longitudinally spaced points relatively to the game board structure and adjacent ends thereof for maintaining the supporting means in different laterally and angularly adjusted positions while the guide rod and disk engaging fork are manually retracted and spring projected.

2. A game apparatus as in claim 1, said game board structure having alleys including bottoms'disposed below the level of said playing surface and extending along side edges of the playing surface and across the end of the playing surface located adjacent said scoring area.

3. A playing piece projecting unit comprising, in combination with an elongated game board having depending supporting means supporting the game board in an elevated position and a playing piece, a guide rod, a guide member having longitudinally spaced portions through which spaced portions of the guide rod slidably extend and in which said guide rod is slidably guided, elongated supporting strips secured to the underside of the game board and transversely thereof, said guide member having end portions slidably and turnably supported on said supporting strips for laterally and angularly adjusting the guide member and guide rod relatively to the game board, said guide rod having an upwardly offset handle portion disposed beyond an end of the game board, a playing piece engaging member having one end secured to' said handle portion, said playing piece engaging member being supported by the guide rod and having an opposite end disposed above the game board for movement relatively thereto longitudinally, laterally and angularly in unison with the guide rod, said last mentioned end terminating in a playing piece receiving portion releasably engaging the playing piece for propelling the playing piece along a' top surface of the game board, and spring means for projecting the guide rod and playing piece engaging member in one direction relatively to said guide member from a retracted position, said guide rod and playing piece engaging member being adapted to be manually retracted by engagement with said handle portion.

4. A playing piece projecting unit as in claim 3, said spring means comprising an expansion coil spring disposed around a portion of the guide rod and having one end bearing against one of said longitudinally spaced guide member portions, a pin anchored in and extending transversely from the guide rod through a convolution of the spring and forming a spring stop whereby the guide rod and playing piece engaging member will be projected from a retracted position by the loaded portion of the spring located between said pin and said aforementioned guide member portion.

5. A playing piece projecting unit as in claim 4, said guide member including an intermediate portion having a longitudinal slot disposed parallel to the axis of the adjacent portion of the guide rod and slidably receiving one end of said pin for slidably and non-turnably retaining the guide rod in said guide member and to insure axial sliding movement of the guide rod relatively to the guide member.

6. A playing piece projecting unit as in claim 5, the other end portion of said spring being disposed between said pin and the other guide member portion to provide a resilient cushioning means and shock absorber for stopping the spring projected movement of the guide rod and playing piece engaging member.

7. A playing piece projecting unit as in claim 3, said playing piece engaging member comprising a fork composed of two resilient Shanks having corresponding ends anchored in said handle portion and outwardly bowed opposite free ends forming fork tines releasably engaging the playing piece, said playing piece being of disk-like construction, said fork tines and Shanks being spring biased toward one another whereby the fork tines will engage around more than one-half the periphery of the playing piece and being sprung apart for receiving the playing piece therein and for releasing the playing piece therefrom.

8. A playing piece projecting unit as in claim 3, said end portions of the guide member being frictionally engaged between said supporting strips and the game board to retain the guide member in diierent laterally and angularly adjusted positions.

References Cited in the flle of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 598,894 Bean Feb. 15, 1898 1,326,071 Lloyd Dec. 23, 1919 1,339,949 Egts May 11, 1920 2,062,204 Blackmore Nov. 24, 1936 2,455,978 Colaluca Dec. 14, 1948 2,476,138 Edwards July 12, 1949 

